2018 L86 6.2L Lifter Failure - Fix or get rid of?

[lbenson]

At 135K miles, lost my cylinder 1 lifter, bent the pushrod and took out the camshaft with it. My independent shop does not recommend rebuilding and just to go straight to either a new engine or a cheaper reman option (17.5K for new engine, 12K for reman). I like the truck but when considering all the city driving/stop and go traffic I've likely got closer to 170-180K miles worth of ware and tare. Body is in good shape but concerned about transmission issues later down the road. A/C wasn't working well this past summer and had kept filling up to keep it somewhat cold, and need some front end work as well. With that, I'm leaning towards just selling it as is and getting a few thousand bucks and moving on. Trade-in value is likely 15K with a working engine.

Spoke with my buddy who is a GM Mechanic (1000 miles away) and he said the same thing, cheaper to put a Reman in it vs. rebuilding.

If anyone has had a similar experience lately, any insight/advice is much appreciated!

2018 L86 6.2L with 10 Speed

 

[Campie]

Had you been running with AFM active or did you have a (Range) disabler? Curious as that’s exactly our ”new” car. Only 34k miles so far but wanting to know what to expect.

 

[thefrey]

Have you explored doing a DOD delete?

You can find kits for under $1500. Depends on how much you want to spend, but it would be new camshaft, lifters, and some other goodies. About 20-30 hours of work to do it. I have seen estimates from $4000-6000 from shops from what other people have mentioned...

DOD delete is going to be the most reliable thing. You will lose AFM and perhaps a mpg, but your truck will most likely be more reliable than a new engine.

 

[Campie]

We got the 6yr/60k warranty so we don’t want to do the full delete just yet. So for we’re driving in L9 to keep it in V8.

 

[lbenson]

AFM Active. No mods. Changed oil every 4k miles as it got up over 100k.

From asking around to my GM mechanic buddy, my mechanic who works on it, and others locally, I certainly could have a mechanic dive into it, but I honestly don't want to throw any more cash at it. With everything I've got going on with life right now, nor having any space to work on my own vehicle (apartment living lol), I'm likely best moving on into something new. If I had a driveway/space to park it, I'd fix it as I have time, but that's out of the question for the upcoming years, nor do I want to pay to park it somewhere.

 

[thefrey]

AFM Active. No mods. Changed oil every 4k miles as it got up over 100k.

From asking around to my GM mechanic buddy, my mechanic who works on it, and others locally, I certainly could have a mechanic dive into it, but I honestly don't want to throw any more cash at it. With everything I've got going on with life right now, nor having any space to work on my own vehicle (apartment living lol), I'm likely best moving on into something new. If I had a driveway/space to park it, I'd fix it as I have time, but that's out of the question for the upcoming years, nor do I want to pay to park it somewhere.

Gotcha… as a fellow apartment dweller, I feel you when it comes to not being able to work on your vehicle.

If it doesn’t make sense to keep it for you then it doesn’t make sense. I am doing a DOD delete (at a friend’s place) because that makes the most sense for me (and is the cheapest option) but I’m going to be over my head doing it for a few days.

 

[lbenson]

Gotcha… as a fellow apartment dweller, I feel you when it comes to not being able to work on your vehicle.

If it doesn’t make sense to keep it for you then it doesn’t make sense. I am doing a DOD delete (at a friend’s place) because that makes the most sense for me (and is the cheapest option) but I’m going to be over my head doing it for a few days.

Hope it goes well for you. Yeah, would love the challenge, but have to move on!

 

[Campie]

AFM Active. No mods. Changed oil every 4k miles as it got up over 100k.

From asking around to my GM mechanic buddy, my mechanic who works on it, and others locally, I certainly could have a mechanic dive into it, but I honestly don't want to throw any more cash at it. With everything I've got going on with life right now, nor having any space to work on my own vehicle (apartment living lol), I'm likely best moving on into something new. If I had a driveway/space to park it, I'd fix it as I have time, but that's out of the question for the upcoming years, nor do I want to pay to park it somewhere.

Wow, that’s a great truck and you got a great life out of it. Some other lucky person who has the time and space will get many more miles from it also!

 

[MrMonte]

Had you been running with AFM active or did you have a (Range) disabler? Curious as that’s exactly our ”new” car. Only 34k miles so far but wanting to know what to expect.

AFM turned off doesn't stop an AFM from failing. I know this 1st hand on my 2018 Yukon Denali.

 

[Campie]

Absolutely correct and we understand that. Just looking for an approximate timeframe. How long did you get before your 2018 failed?

 

[mikeseay]

AFM Active. No mods. Changed oil every 4k miles as it got up over 100k.

From asking around to my GM mechanic buddy, my mechanic who works on it, and others locally, I certainly could have a mechanic dive into it, but I honestly don't want to throw any more cash at it. With everything I've got going on with life right now, nor having any space to work on my own vehicle (apartment living lol), I'm likely best moving on into something new. If I had a driveway/space to park it, I'd fix it as I have time, but that's out of the question for the upcoming years, nor do I want to pay to park it somewhere.

The problem with new is new won’t fix your problem. They are having so many issues with the new vehicles and they aren’t very responsive with them either.
Do the DOD delete get it tuned and drive the wheels off that sucker. That’s what I’d do.

 

[fasteddy]

At 135K miles, lost my cylinder 1 lifter, bent the pushrod and took out the camshaft with it. My independent shop does not recommend rebuilding and just to go straight to either a new engine or a cheaper reman option (17.5K for new engine, 12K for reman). I like the truck but when considering all the city driving/stop and go traffic I've likely got closer to 170-180K miles worth of ware and tare. Body is in good shape but concerned about transmission issues later down the road. A/C wasn't working well this past summer and had kept filling up to keep it somewhat cold, and need some front end work as well. With that, I'm leaning towards just selling it as is and getting a few thousand bucks and moving on. Trade-in value is likely 15K with a working engine.

Spoke with my buddy who is a GM Mechanic (1000 miles away) and he said the same thing, cheaper to put a Reman in it vs. rebuilding.

If anyone has had a similar experience lately, any insight/advice is much appreciated!

2018 L86 6.2L with 10 Speed

Where are you? I'll buy it as is for a few 1000 bucks. I love 6.2s with 10speeds.
Otherwise, I would advise to shop around. I good reman engine is around $5K-$6K then you have to find a shop to install......$12K is way high.
Helped a friend put a LT1 6.2 in his truck it had 200K miles and a jacked up lifter/cam....LOL
He bought from these guys on ebay

Pardon Our Interruption...

Hot Rod Company 360_979_6966

Long Block $6200, They built with DOD delete and BTR cam.
Cranked right up. Still lights up the tires 5 months later.

 

[lbenson]

Where are you? I'll buy it as is for a few 1000 bucks. I love 6.2s with 10speeds.
Otherwise, I would advise to shop around. I good reman engine is around $5K-$6K then you have to find a shop to install......$12K is way high.
Helped a friend put a LT1 6.2 in his truck it had 200K miles and a jacked up lifter/cam....LOL
He bought from these guys on ebay

Pardon Our Interruption...

Hot Rod Company 360_979_6966

Long Block $6200, They built with DOD delete and BTR cam.
Cranked right up. Still lights up the tires 5 months later.

Lol, yes, 6.2 with a 10 speed is a blast to drive. Certainly enjoyed it!

Thanks for the offer. I ended up getting $9K from CoPart for it as is. Trade in value last time I was looking at new trucks was $16K, when it had 10k less miles. All considered, could be worse.

 

[91RS]

Call a performance shop, they can fix it with an AFM delete for a lot less than $12k. BTR makes a stock style AFM delete cam that works with the stock time (just needs AFM disabled and I think you can do it with a range device). Replacing a 135k engine is only better if you want that 3 year warranty. A failed cam and lifters does not ruin the engine unless a lifter is stuck in the bore and you yank it out the top and scratch the bore. A stock cam and lifter replacement (not deleting AFM) should cost you $5k-$8k tops.

 

[jyi786]

@lbenson, this just happened to me. I have my own thread about it. I'm going to fix mine. And if the cost isn't too high, I'm going to go performance; I might even supercharge mine.

 

[West 1]

Not sure where you guys are located, I have no fear repairing these engines and would certainly be interested in finding one with a blown engine. I would even arrange to tow it home. I see it already sold. For 9K that is a very good buy as is.

 

[fasteddy]

Not sure where you guys are located, I have no fear repairing these engines and would certainly be interested in finding one with a blown engine. I would even arrange to tow it home. I see it already sold. For 9K that is a very good buy as is.

Just look on Facebook or Craigslist. I see em all the time. MYs 15+ for $8-$12K. "the dreaded ticking" LOL. MYs 07-14 for $4K-$7K. I actually prefer the 7-14 LS3 based 6.2's, but the dashes all crack, and thats impossible to fix. The 15+ MYs have the padded dash and those are good, just a little more complex to work on a LT 6.2. Once the DOD is gone the 6.2 is great powerplant. I understand people wanting to dump em. Private shops want $5K+ to delete DOD, dealers more and usually recommend a $12K engine. I would rather do a 6.6 L8T swap but no good recipes exist. I've seen some of those 2500 trucks with 200K miles, no issues and still driving.

 

[MrMonte]

Absolutely correct and we understand that. Just looking for an approximate timeframe. How long did you get before your 2018 failed?

My 2018 Yukon Denali AFM lifter failed at 88K miles and AFM was turned off for 30K miles before that. Fixed with non-AFM cam setup. I'm at 131K miles now running better than new.

 

[martha]

uhg. My 18 with 105k miles is ok now, but i just ordered a range deleter. There is no thought that they can cause issues is there? If it does nothing but keep me in v8 that's ok by me.

I am not a pro or even close... I don't know the system that well but I suppose I could reason out that maybe using the dod lifters every now and then could keep them more lubed and prolong their life, so a deleter might actually cause failure sooner??? (questioning even installing it when it arrives!)

I guess I drive it til it fails like every other car ever. Anything else I can do other than oil changes SHORT of a dod delete kit? I changed to 0w-40 but I don't think that should matter.

 

[thefrey]

uhg. My 18 with 105k miles is ok now, but i just ordered a range deleter. There is no thought that they can cause issues is there? If it does nothing but keep me in v8 that's ok by me.

I am not a pro or even close... I don't know the system that well but I suppose I could reason out that maybe using the dod lifters every now and then could keep them more lubed and prolong their life, so a deleter might actually cause failure sooner??? (questioning even installing it when it arrives!)

I guess I drive it til it fails like every other car ever. Anything else I can do other than oil changes SHORT of a dod delete kit? I changed to 0w-40 but I don't think that should matter.

From everything that I understand, a range device does not hurt anything. It just doesn't allow the vehicle to enter v4 mode. You will have to keep an eye out to see if it will drain your battery. I never had any issues with mine when I had it, but some people say it doesn't hurt to remove it if you leave your car parked for extended periods of time.

Frequent oil changes and good oil filters (at or under 5k) are going to be your best friend in general. Oil is cheap, motors are not.

I have heard of some people using the system every once and awhile, but usually failures come from when the vehicle is in v4 mode and attempts to go back to v8 mode. The locks on the lifter get stuck and the lifter has slack in it. I couldn't imagine that a disabler system would cause any kind of failure sooner, if anything it should prolong any failures.

More people here who know more about the system can chime in.